Quotes

LOS ANGELES, Feb 2 (Reuters) - Solar power company
SolarCity is expected to debut on U.S. markets in the third
quarter this year and has hired Goldman Sachs (GS.N) to
underwrite its initial public offering, a source close to the
company said on Thursday.

The San Mateo, California-based startup will file its IPO
plans with the U.S. Securities and Exchange Commission "within a
few weeks," the source said. The deal is expected to value the
company at around $1.5 billion.

Spokesmen for both SolarCity and Goldman would not comment.

A market debut by SolarCity could help revive what has
become a dismal market for clean technology offerings.

Closely watched energy startups including solar thermal
power plant builder BrightSource Energy Inc and power grid
networking company Silver Spring Networks filed to go public
last year but have been waiting for market conditions to improve
to set dates for their debuts.

SolarCity was founded in 2006 by brothers Lyndon and Peter
Rive -- the first cousins of Tesla Motors (TSLA.O) CEO and
PayPal co-founder Elon Musk, who serves as SolarCity's chairman.

The company has rapidly grown to become the top U.S.
installer of residential solar systems, with 14 percent of the
market in the first three months of 2011, according to GTM
Research.

SolarCity has benefited from a solar leasing business model
that allows homeowners to install ordinarily pricey solar panels
on their rooftops with no money down. Instead, homeowners make
monthly payments for the power they use and the system is owned
by a third party.

Google Inc (GOOG.O), for instance, last year said it would
finance $280 million of SolarCity's residential systems
[ID:nN14194125].

The solar leasing model has been adopted by many installers
in recent years, and SolarCity's competitors include fellow
startups SunRun and Sungevity, among otherA s.

SolarCity made headlines last year when failed to win a U.S.
loan guarantee for an ambitious project to install solar panels
on military housing. The project was saved, however, when Bank
of America Merrill Lynch agreed to finance the debt portion of
the more than $1 billion in solar installations
[ID:nN1E7AS0P4].

SolarCity's plan to file for an IPO shortly was first
reported by Bloomberg on Wednesday.

(Reporting By Nichola Groom; editing by John Wallace, Bernard
Orr)

((nichola.groom@thomsonreuters.com))
Keywords: SOLARCITY/IPO

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